Come back, Shane

May 27, 2011

Editorial excerpts from newspapers around the state.

In the case of Spotsylvania School Board v. Andrew Mikel II, 14, whose unauthorized lunchroom physics experiment with a makeshift peashooter and schoolmates' epidermises drew a six-month suspension from Spotsy High, Circuit Judge Joseph Ellis probably made the right call when he ruled for the Board. Being a judge can't be easy when, as Mr. Bumble said, the law is an ass and adults insist on riding it as if it's Secretariat at the Preakness.

Judge Ellis rejected young Andrew's suspension appeal after ruling that the School Board had met the criteria of state law. The Board, he decided, had acted (1) within its authority, (2) non-capriciously, and (3) without abusing its discretion. Some might argue the last point--Andrew got a half-year boot for shooting some fellow Knights with breath-propelled plastic pellets--but the problem isn't the eminent jurist.

Preponderantly, the banishment of Andrew Mikel illustrates just how adversarial is modern education to boys. One hopes for boys to develop into young men like the hero in the classic Western "Shane": soft-spoken, polite to women, gentle with children--and a tiger in a fight against bully or villain. You don't get to tiger without going through cub stage, and this the prim panels of pedagogues can't abide.

Because boys in their chief social setting can no longer be boys--Judge Ellis rightly called Andrew mischievous, which earlier Americans did not count as a felony--they often struggle to perform the rites of manhood. Consider how many modern young males dawdle rather than pursue higher education, start careers, marry, raise families. Many modern young females have considered it, usually with long faces.

A stern reprimand to make young knees tremble, a week of after-school blackboard duty, a twisted ear courtesy of a vise-fingered teacher--the punishments of yore governed masculine high spirits without extinguishing them.

Expulsion? Stigmatization? Emasculation?

Spitballs to the Board and the law it rode in on.

The Free Lance - Star

GOP hats: Out of it

The Richmond Times Dispatch Editorial

Every day another Republican announces he will not run for president. More hats have been thrown out of the ring than into it.

Potential candidates cite various reasons, often related to their so-called personal lives, yet do not mention what, to Republicans, should rate as the major concern: President Obama may be unbeatable.

Circumstance could change the equation, but a robust turnout next year could prove Obama's winning card. Moreover, the House GOP budget plan, despite its policy virtues, already has energized the Democratic base. Republicans appear guilty of overreach - i.e., the same malaise behind the Democrats' 2010 distress.

The Richmond Times Dispatch

Prepare to save

This spring's violent thunderstorms that spawned deadly tornadoes and devastated communities, including some in Virginia, serve as a reminder: While you can never truly be ready for the disruptive forces of nature, you can prepare to offer your family the best chance to weather storms and their aftermath.

Virginia will even help you prepare by forgoing the sales tax you would pay to stock an emergency kit.

Emergency planners recommend that people have on hand enough water, food and other supplies to last for a few days in case damage is widespread. When people can care for themselves in the aftermath of storms, the burden on emergency crews is lightened, allowing tasks to shift sooner from rescue to recovery mode.

Take a few moments today to visit Ready.Virginia.gov. Make your emergency plan and shopping list. You'll sleep better knowing not only that you took care of this, but saved a few tax dollars as well.